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Laser eye op for Stone Keith, 68

Time might be on his side but it appears age has finally caught up with Rolling Stone Keith Richards after he had an operation to correct his failing vision.

The legendary hellraiser is understood to have undergone laser treatment on his eyes before Christmas.

The brief operation means Keith will not have to wear glasses.

The 68-year-old guitarist is in remarkably good health given his rock and roll reputation.

He has survived years of drug-taking, kicking a heroin habit in 1978 and eventually stopping taking cocaine after an accident in 2006 in which he fell out of a tree in Fiji, requiring brain surgery and a metal plate in his skull.

The guitarist, who once claimed to have snorted some of his dead father's ashes in a line of cocaine, has said he hopes he has many years left to live.

Speaking in 2010, he said: "Well, I'm not putting death on the agenda. I don't want to see my old friend Lucifer just yet. He's the guy I'm gonna see, isn't it? I'm not going to the other place, let's face it."

The former junkie has credited his drug use with helping him deal with life in the band, who are still going strong almost 50 years after their first hit.

He said: "I think in its own weird way that's where heroin and all the other stuff helped me as it really kept my feet in the gutter, not just on the ground. Fame is probably a bigger killer than drugs in my game. So many people, very nice cats, have a dose of fame and go into this other world.

"You know you can't pull them back. Along with fame comes terrible decisions about what to do, who you think you are and how to treat other people."